We are enjoying our stay on the east side of the Missouri River here in Iowa. Even though we have spent most of our time across the river in Omaha, Nebraska, we are liking Iowa too. The nearest big town is Council Bluffs, and we went in search of the origin of that town's name. We found out it came from our friends Lewis and Clark and the Corp of Discovery. We followed their route all across the western United States last year, and we found they made stops here in Iowa. It seems that they had their first council with the neighborhood Indians here on the bluff over the river. So that's why it's called Council Bluffs! There's a memorial built on top of the bluff marking the spot.
From here we can look down off our perch on the bluff to see the Missouri River valley below. More water shows up in the picture because of the recent flooding along both sides of the river. This is the view that the Lewis and Clark council on the bluff saw here in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
We are high above the valley, on a loess cliff that this area is known for. We lived here for three days before we finally got to the Nature Center in our park to find out how to properly enunciate "loess." It is pronounced "luss" and rhymes with bus. It's a unique kind of loose rock found only two places in the world--here in the Missouri Valley and in China. It seemed easier to come here to see it for ourselves.
It also took us three days to find time to take some of the hiking trails near our motor home at Hitchcock Nature Center campground. We started early in the morning, hoping for the coolest weather possible. We found that even the coolest weather of these hot summer days makes for very sweaty hiking. But in spite of the heat, we were still enjoying our hike.
Add the Iowa humidity, and we were wringing wet with sweat. There were chances of scattered rain showers, and we were secretly hoping for the rain. We couldn't have gotten any wetter, and it might have cooled us off some. But in spite of the heat and humidity, we were still enjoying our hike.
There are twelve miles of trails in this park, all connected so that good length loop hikes are possible. We got into the strenuous part of the trail system, and found ourselves gasping to make it up steep grades, and struggling not to fall down steep grades down. That is Mark at the bottom of a very steep hill, not looking forward to another steep hike up behind him. But in spite of the heat, humidity, and steepness, we were still enjoying our hike.
Did we mention the mosquitoes? We covered ourselves with a liberal dose of bug spray, but they still plagued us. No matter how tired we were from all those inclines, we couldn't stop to rest because we would have been swarmed by mosquitoes. In fact, we got quite a good arm workout during this hike for all the swatting and flailing of arms we were doing to ward off the mosquitoes. The picture below might look like Denisa is waving at the camera; but in fact she is waving off the mosquitoes that have chased us all day. But in spite of the heat, humidity, steepness, and mosquitoes, we were still enjoying our hike.
We are experienced hikers, and we applied bug spray before we started this morning. We brought the spray with us, and reapplied more liberally when we saw how bad they were. Those darn mosquitoes meant that we didn't have time to stop and smell the flowers. Denisa literally gave a blood donation to take a picture of these lovely wild lilies along the trail.
Likewise, she normally would have stopped to pick a pint of these wild blackberries. But this was the entire harvest since she was being bug-bombed.
We were glad to get to the long board walk section of the hike. Being removed from the grass and mud, also seemed to remove us from some of the mosquitoes.
We loved the views when we hiked out to Fox Ridge Point. With the abundant rain this year, there is so much green that it almost hurts our eyes!
As we explore this western edge of Iowa, we are falling in love with the fields of corn that surround us. On Sunday, we went to a little church down a dirt road. After a nice service, we took the long road home through the country, just to enjoy the fields of corn and beans one more time. It really does feel like we have wandered into another of God's wonders! We think this is a beautiful view!
One of the men at church told us that corn should be "knee high on the Fourth of July." It looks like this crop is way ahead of its time, and we're looking forward to eating sweet corn here in Iowa very soon!
After a great three days camping at Hitchcock Nature Center, it's time to head on down the road to see more wonders!
Because we raised sports-minded boys, we knew that Omaha, Nebraska, has hosted the College World Series for many years. So it is sweet serendipity that we would arrive just as the series was coming to an end. We had checked, and it was scheduled to finish on the day before we arrived. But two rain delay days caused game two of the championship series to be played the day we got here. We snapped a picture of a t-shirt with the last two college teams battling it out in the best-of-three championship.
Arkansas won the first game, and we were secretly cheering for Oregon State to win the second. We talked to people that stood in line in the sunshine in 90+ degree heat, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. just to secure a general admission seat to watch that second game. The stadium was packed with a standing-room-only crowd as an epic game unfolded. Arkansas was one strike away from winning the game (and the championship), when the last Oregon State batter popped the ball up into foul territory. Three Arkansas players rushed to make the easy catch for the last out and the championship--but none of the three stepped up to make the catch and the ball fell to the ground between them. It was shocking to see as we watched it on television! To make matters worse for the Arkansas team, a couple plays later an Oregon State player hit a home run to win the game.
This would force a third game where the champion would be determined for sure. But because of the rain delays, that game will be played after the tournament was supposed to be completed. So fans that had purchased travel tickets long ago, were forced to fly home before this late championship game. Suddenly we were in Omaha for the championship game, with tickets available!
The $9 general admission tickets were available everywhere, and we even picked up two for just $15 total. As evidence that many baseball fans had left town, the general admission line was ONLY about four blocks long (about a third of yesterday's length).
We had been in town all day, and our Garmin showed that we had already walked ten miles. But we swung back by the car to pick up more snacks and water bottles, and headed to the game at TD Ameritrade Park near downtown Omaha.
We were early, so we staked out good seats under the jumbo-tron. You can see Mark standing in the bottom left corner of the scoreboard as they were introducing the starting line-up for Arkansas.
People with the more expensive reserved seats weren't in any hurry to get to the stadium as the temperatures cranked up to close to 100 degrees. This is the view of the field from the seats behind home plate in the shade. Our tickets, however, are under that distant scoreboard in direct sun.
We saw experienced series fans with towels under their caps, shading their already sunburned faces and necks. Less experienced world series fans had to make due with wet paper towels from the bathroom.
Denisa added to her mileage totals as she walked laps around the stadium, pausing to enjoy the shade. These two sportscasters, however, were in the direct sun, enjoying the heat in their black shirts.
The stadium filled up as the game started at 5:38. It seemed that the red shirts of the Arkansas fans outnumbered the orange-shirted Oregon fans that had to travel much further to be at this game. Because we had met more Arkansas fans, we were cheering for their team.
But the Arkansas team just never could get their bats going, while Oregon kept bringing in an occasional run. As fans got more frustrated and continued to drink more beer in the heat, tempers flared. We watched as several different spectators were taken away in handcuffs.
We finally left the game during the seventh inning stretch, as Arkansas continued to struggle. They had gone from an easy catch to win the championship, to seeing it slip away as they could never regain their momentum. As we walked back to our vehicle, Denisa saw the 13th mile register on her Garmin. We've walked all over Omaha today! We took pictures in front of the magical display of statues by the convention center. It's been a magical day where an odd set of events brought us to Omaha just in time for the championship game. Sometimes it feels like we live a charmed life as we wander His wonders.
We are camped 15 miles outside of the thriving city of Omaha, Nebraska. The weather has been blisteringly hot, so we were excited to see showers and cooler weather in our forecast for our day in the city. The Missouri River is the dividing point between Iowa and Nebraska. As we crossed the bridge, this state sign picture will go down in history as the worst we have taken so far. Welcome to Nebraska!
With all the recent rain upriver, the Missouri River is rising, and it has caused some complications for us. We had looked into staying at the N. P. Dodge city park campground, but found it was under water due to flooding. Besides camping, it looks like no one will be playing soccer on the fields at the park any time soon.
Statues on the river front are closed off because they are now in the river. But we still found plenty of fun in Omaha, and we were thankful for the cooler temperatures caused by those clouds.
Our first stop on the river front was the Bob Kerry bridge. Affectionately known simply as "Bob," it's a new pedestrian suspension bridge. Its graceful S-shape was an engineering feat, designed to get people on their feet to get more exercise.
While walking across the Missouri River on "Bob," we had to stop for the mandatory state line picture. Since we travel together in a 35-foot motor home, sometimes it's good to give each other a little space and spend time in separate states.
As we cross the bridge, we see that a vegan group has already been there this morning. They have left chalk messages all over the bridge. We think it is interesting to see some of their slogans, as we walk into the city of Omaha--known for their steaks.
On the Iowa side of the bridge, we see more evidence of flooding. Those trees on the far right do not like having their feet in the river. We also see the sky line of Omaha directly in front of us, and
we're walking that way next. After walking back across "Bob," we were back in Nebraska. We stopped by the Heartland of America Park, where our friends Lewis and Clark made a stop on their Corp of Discovery journey going up this Missouri River.
We always like to challenge ourselves to find the best free things to do in a new city. With the help of a good tourism magazine and a knowledgeable guide at the tourist information center, we feel like we hit the jackpot in Omaha. We enjoyed the Mangelsen Gallery in the Old Market District of downtown. Thomas Mangelsen is known for his nature pictures, and we especially enjoyed reading where each was photographed. We scored several "we've been there" moments as we looked at the landscape pictures. (We also felt like we had been there when gazing into those grizzly eyes. Yikes!)
Leahy Mall is the name of a narrow green space that runs much of the length of downtown. We found silly statues and water features as we walked through the grassy mall. We especially enjoyed this curiously curved pipe that eventually filled an old bucket . . .
until it finally tilted and emptied into the man-made river below. Call us quirky, but it was a fun take on the usual waterfall where most cities try to make cement look like something God created.
We especially enjoyed the Pioneer Courage Park on the edge of downtown. Several square blocks of prime real estate are filled with bigger-than-life statues of pioneers on their way to settle the west.
The detail was amazing in the many modes of transportation that the settlers used to make their way west. As Denisa runs along behind a pioneer girl, we couldn't help but notice that all of the people look so happy to make this long journey.
Even the animals seem happy--except for the cow tied behind the wagon. She's got her tongue hanging out, and we're not sure if she's going to make the entire journey.
As we work our way through downtown, we see that there is a herd of bison running in front of those settlers. While most of the herd can be found in grassy medians, this guy ran right into the corner of one of the downtown buildings.
The bison have scared up a flock of bronze geese, just starting to take off from the pond in another downtown green space. What a beautiful continuation of the theme throughout downtown!
Several geese have even crashed through the glass atrium of the First National Bank. This family-owned bank is responsible for much of the beautification in Omaha, as we will see later.
We're about 8 miles into our urban stroll today, and it's beginning to warm up. So we're glad that the Joslyn Art Museum is free and air-conditioned. We're fans of Chihuly's glass art, and this huge display goes all the way to the ceiling in the side entry.
There are over 2,000 hand-blown pieces of glass in this work of art entitled, "Inside and Out."
After soaking in more art and more air-conditioning, the wading pool in the sculpture park is looking pretty good to Denisa's tired feet.
This isn't just any flat-water feature. Imbedded into black granite is the curving path of the Missouri River as it meanders through Omaha. Denisa thought it would be fun to meander down the river, as did her new little friend.
We really hit the free-jackpot this week, as the tourist-information volunteer informed us that the Lauritzen Gardens weren't charging admission this week. The Lauritzen family is the First National Bank family, responsible for those sculptures running through downtown. They have also funded a very impressive botanical garden.
The glass conservatory has a lovely collection of trees that reach to the top of those glass windows.
We couldn't help but notice that every spot was crowded with plants, and they all looked healthy and happy to be here. If the afternoon wasn't so hot, we would have been happier to be there as well.
It was almost 100 degrees, but we battled on to see the park. The gardeners must have all worked their magic during the cooler morning hours, as everything was perfectly groomed every way we turned.
One of our favorite garden sections was the Model Railroad Garden--complete with electric and steam toy trains running through the plants.
Mark visited with the train engineer, while Denisa ran around snapping pictures of little trains that kept appearing around every bend.
If it wasn't so hot, we would have paused for more pictures along the way. We probably wouldn't have paid $10/person to make this walk on such a warm day, but we certainly appreciated the opportunity to see it for free this day.
The last free stop on our itinerary wasn't very impressive, but it certainly taught us a history lesson. We arrived at the presidential birthsite garden in Omaha, only to find that the house had burned many years ago. So only a doll-house-size replica was left on display. We also found that the president born here--Leslie King, Jr. only lived in this house for two weeks before his Mother left her abusive marriage and took the baby to live in Michigan. As we scoured our memories, we didn't remember a U.S. President named King. How could this story be true?
But we figured out that when Mrs. King left her Nebraska husband, she would marry Mr. Gerald Ford. They renamed that little boy Gerald Ford, Jr., and he would become the 38th President of the United States. So even though Nebraska claims him as their native son and honors him with a park in Omaha, he spent all but two weeks of his young life in Michigan. Now you have learned a history lesson too!
We have enjoyed our time in Omaha, in spite of the warm weather. We obviously have not yet been successful in finding cooler weather as we head north. But we did happen upon a once-in-our-lifetime experience here in Omaha. But that's the subject of tomorrow's blog.
The Missouri travel center handed out some great literature on the town of St. Joseph, and it did its job. We really wanted to visit this little city! Since it was on the road we were traveling, we decided to take a pit-stop here. We parked the motor home at the visitor center, and drove the car to make two stops to get a taste of St. Joseph. Our first stop was on the campus of Missouri Western University, where they are proud of a young man raised here in town--Walter Cronkite. The museum includes a timeline and pictures of young Walter, all the way through his successful news-casting career. Of course, it included his signature line that he always used to end the evening news, "and that's the way it is . . ."
During his broadcasting career, he had a personal interest in the amazing advances taking place in space travel. It took us a while to figure out what it was, but that tiny rocket at the top of this mountain of smoke is at the center of the Cronkite museum.
A room set up to replicate the newsroom of the 1960's was a fun addition to the museum. Touch the button on the table, and a picture of the current news anchor sitting at the desk automatically prints out.
Before the days of teleprompters and computer printouts, news scripts were hand-typed. At the news desk, we could read actual evening news scripts, with the last-minute-hand-written changes made by Walter Cronkite.
It was interesting to watch clips of America's best-known anchor man describing moments in history. Below we watched and listened as he described the first man landing on the moon on July 21, 1969.
Now that we learned that Walter Cronkite was raised here in St. Joseph, what other history could we find in our brief stop? We soon discovered that St. Joseph is where the first pony express rider took off on April 3, 1860. A statue in the middle of town memorializes these swift riders that carried the mail across the country. Both of us remember the pony express in our history lessons. So we were surprised to find that this method of delivering the mail only lasted for 18 months before it went bankrupt.
It was fun to read the plaques surrounding the statue, complete with the route information from St. Joseph, Missouri, all the way to Sacramento, California. It was also fun to read the wording of the advertisement that enticed 100 guys to sign up to be riders, "Wanted: young, skinny wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week." As brutally true as that ad was, all the positions were filled. The riders ranged in age from 11 to 40, willing to ride day and night for 100 miles to complete their part of the express delivery.
We're sure the Pony Express Museum in town would have been a great place to spend an afternoon. But for us, our drive-by statue and informative plaques were just perfect for today. After an hour of St. Joseph touring, we are convinced that we need to return some day to spend more time. But for now we returned to the motor home to continue north. We crossed the border into Iowa--another new state for the motor home. It was good to know the people of Iowa were welcoming us into the "Fields of Opportunities."
It was a long day on the road as we pulled into a nice county RV park near Crescent, Iowa. We're planning to be here at Hitchcock Nature Center for four nights as we explore the Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa area. The wildflowers in our little campground were a perfect welcome to our first night in Iowa. As Walter Cronkite would say, " . . . and that's the way it is!"
